Restricted Call: Sir Jules Thorn Biomedical Award 2024 (internal deadline: 9th October, 2023)

Following on from the pre-announcement about the Sir Jules Thorn Award for Biomedical Research call (see email below), this is to announce that the funder has now opened this call and so full details of the internal selection process can be confirmed. Please refer to the details in this email, as these are up to date for the current call.

One grant of up to £1.7m is offered to support a five-year programme of translational biomedical research led by an outstanding researcher in the early years of an established research and academic career. The work must include research on patients and be based on appropriate bio-statistical analysis. The application must set out a clear strategy defining how the research will translate into benefit for patients and the timescale within which this will take place.

Please note a few points about eligibility from last year’s guidance, including updates obtained through communication with the funder:

• The work set out in the proposal must be a major commitment for the Principal Applicant, comprising at least 50% of their research time. Where the Principal Applicant holds an existing award from another funder, the institution/organisation will need to verify in its letter of support that the terms of that other funding are consistent with the 50%-time commitment required by the Award.
• Grants must be led by a single Principal Applicant of outstanding quality in the early years of an established research and academic career. Typically, shortlisted candidates have an established a strong track record of independent research, previously supported by competitive, peer-reviewed fellowships. Shortlisted candidates typically have been PI for one or more research grants with a value <£500K – or been named as co-investigators on larger awards – from similarly prestigious funders. However, the Trust is not prescriptive about how the early years of an established research and academic career is defined and recognises that outstanding researchers may not follow a conventional career path, and/or may have had periods away from research for professional or personal reasons.
• the award may not be used to meet the salary costs of the applicant, who should be in institutional-funded posts for the duration of the grant.
• Please note that the funder has communicated with us that it will accept applications from any eligible applicant so long as the project is human focussed and translational. Therefore, applicants need not be affiliated with the University’s School of Clinical Medicine to apply.

Please see the funder’s guidance notes for full details and the funder’s webpage for further useful resources, including the Guidance for Institutions document. Examples of the type of research funded under this programme can be found in the previous awards section of the Trust’s website.

University Internal selection

Institutions can only submit one application. Therefore, this call will be managed according to the University’s restricted calls procedure.

To take part in the internal selection process, please submit your application via our online submission form by 9^th October, 2023 (if asked to log-in use your Raven details).

Each applicant will need to have the following information ready to complete the online form submission:

• Confirmation of the applicant’s eligibility 
• CV(3 pages maximum). Applicants are advised to consider DORA principles when presenting research outputs.
• Summary of the proposed research, focusing in particular on the following (750 words maximum): Why your project would be suitable for translational study; the unmet need which is to be investigated and how the research will meet that need; a clear strategy defining how the research will translate into benefit for patients and the timescale within which this will take place.
• A support letter from the Head of the Department/Centre/Institutethat will hold the grant, confirming their support for the project and agreement to host the grant

Internal Assessment Criteria:

Please note that the assessment of internal applications will focus on the following core funder criteria:

• Candidate: the research must be led by a clearly identified Principal Applicant of outstanding quality in the early years of an established research and academic career.
• Quality of the Research Programme: the proposedresearch must have a justifiable claim to be at the leading edge of international science.
• Benefit to Patients: the application must set out a clear strategy defining how the research will translate into benefit for patients and the timescale within which this will take place

Funder deadline: December 18th, 2023 (for preliminary applications; full applications due 24^th May, 2024).

If you have any queries, please don’t hesitate to contact us at researchstrategy@admin.cam.ac.uk.

Posted on 21/09/2023